Research
We decided as a group to research into our choosen artist which is Little Mix. Within this we have created an Artist biography , genre research and will then links to theories such as the male gaze.
Artist research - This was created by team member Georgia Pearce
Little Mix are a British four member girl band formed in 2011, members including Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall.
They were put together on the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011 after originally auditioning as solo artists, becoming the first ever group to win the competition.
After the show, they signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records and releasing their winners single, a cover of Damien Rice's "Cannonball".
Their debut album DNA was released on 19 November 2012, and their second album, Salute, was released on 11 November 2013 in the UK and was released on 4 February 2014 in the US. As of October 2013, Little Mix have sold over 4 million singles and over 2.5 million albums worldwide.
Perrie Edwards:
Perrie Edwards:
Perrie's First Audition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYCpNTsiokg&list=PL493AEEC6EE4D2249
Leigh-Anne Pinnock:
Leigh-Anne was born 4 October 1991 , and was raised in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire along with her two sisters, Sarah and Sian-Louise. She is of Barbadian/Jamaican ancestry. Before joining Little Mix, she worked as a waitress in Pizza Hut. Her first audition was "Only Girl (in the World)" by Rihanna. She's currently in a relationship with Jordan Kiffin.
Leigh-Anne's First Audition:
Jade Thirlwall:
Jade Thirlwall was born 26 December 1992 , and raised in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. She previously auditioned for The X Factor during series 5 (2008) and series 7 (2010). Her first audition song in 2011 was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles. Her musical influences are Diana Ross and Cheryl Cole. She's currently in a relationship with Diversity's Sam Craske.
Jade's First Audition (2011):
Jesy Nelson:
Jesy was born 14 June 1991 and raised in Romford, London to parents John Nelson and Janice White. She has an older sister Jade and two brothers, Joseph and Jonathan. Her first audition was "Bust Your Windows" by Jazmine Sullivan. Since joining Little Mix, she has faced cyber-bullying and struggled to cope during her time on The X Factor. Prior to the show, Jesy worked as a barmaid. She's currently in a relationship with Diversity's Jordan Banjo.
Jesy's First Audition:
My team member Kala Hill then went on to conduct research into the Pop genre
The general conventions
Pop music videos are all about the artist selling their music to their audience. Typical eliminates in a pop music video include; Lots of bright colours, dancing, make-up, vibrant outfits and props. Many artists in this industry such as Rihanna and Beyonce are sex symbols as well as a product to help promote their music to the public.
Mise-en-scene typically consists of Bright colours, lots of make-up and fashion accessories.
Editing typically consists of Tints and filters to enhance colours and photoshopped artists so they look perfect.
Camera work typically consists of Many close-ups of artist faces and long shots of dancing and partying.
Narrative
In pop music videos a narrative is not the most common theme they usually go with a performance based theme as this attracts the audience, however if a narrative is used in a pop music video then it is usually based upon parties or relationships/breakups. Such as Little Mix "DNA" the narrative behind that is all these girls obsesing over a guy, this is typical for pop music videos.
Performance
Pop music videos are almost completely focused on the artist and no one else. If there is a dance routine in the music video then then the artists will always be the main front dancers, or if they have a narrative then the artists will play the main charecters. Pop artists always perform in a sexual manner or a cute way to attract the biggest audience base they can.
Finally I went on to research into how women are presented in the media and whether we are going to subvert or reinforce these stereotypes.
Firstly Laura Mulvey states that- "In cinema pleasure is related to issues of sexual difference and sexual politics". -'Film studies: The essential resource - Peter Bennett, Andrew Hickman and Peter Wall'
The media is mediated by the ways in which male characters look at female characters. A female is identified as an object of desire, she is defined as a passive sexual spectacle. Cinema centres ideas around pleasuring a male heterosexual desire and defines the female as the passive object of male desire.
As we are presenting an all female band it is extremely hard to completely subvert aspects such as the male gaze. Within many of Little Mix's videos they are wearing tight clothing , showing a lot of skin and wearing clothes that enhances their assets. However they still manage to keep an aspect of innocence. Therefore in out video we will follow these guidelines, the characters will wear outfits which reinforce the male gaze but we will try to keep the aspect of innocence.
